Leech Lake Bass Snatchers August 22nd

This is the tournament I was looking forward to more than any other on the schedule and I ended up with a great partner draw for the lake. I rode up from Baxter to the Horseshoe Bay resort with my boater Bill Ludenia. Horsebay Resort on the map above is by the Y in Agency. There was some pretty good fog on my way to Brainerd, but it really wasn't too bad until we got up to Leech. Despite a fairly good fog, we blasted off early at around 7:30AM. It turned out that after we got out a couple of miles the fog disappeared.

Our starting spot was a reed bed towards the NE side of Bear Island (Bear Island is the big Island on the SE side of the lake). Another club boat also started in this reed bed. I didn't even have my rods organized and Bill was pulling his first bass into the boat on his 2nd cast. We worked in the area for about 30 minutes and I think Bill got one more fish.

Next, we moved to some of the heavy cover in Headquarters Bay, which is South of Boy Bay. I think it was our third stop in Headquarters that I had a massive explosion on my white Zoom Horny Toad and I landed a thick 17" bass. We were fishing rice and the fish bit close to a nice sized clump of rice that had a pretty good open lane beside it. As we worked for this rice bed, Dennis, my boater from Pelican, pulled in a pretty good distance in front of us and Dwight, my boater from South Long, was also fishing in the general area. I had a couple of fish swat at my Horny Toad and one solid blow up that I should have hooked up with as we worked the area. I think Bill got 1 fish and we say Dennis land a bass and his partner catch a big dogfish. To be honest I think we worked through this rice a bit quicker than we should have because fish were definitely there. After about 45 minutes we moved a little way to some undercut banks with pads and rice, but that was dead. We kept moving North along some good looking rice and I think Bill landed a fish or two before we made a move to some rice on the East side of Bear Island. There were lots of signs of fish in this rice but we didn't catch any. The day was bright and sunny and the fish on this particular spot were spooky.

We moved North to the reed bed where we started the day and I got a bite on my tube jig but missed it. I cast right back to the same area and got hit again and this time I landed a 13.75" largemouth. I don't remember if I got one more fish in these reeds or not. I don't think Bill got a fish this time.

Next, we moved up to Boy Bay to try some docks. On the very first dock, my bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke got bit off. On this same dock, Bill landed a 3lb bass. I think Bill got a 2nd dock bass before I connected with a 12.5" bass. I think Bill got another dock bass before I had a fish that I thought was a bass swim out and take the Fluke but when I set the hook and I was bit off clean, so it was actually either a pike or muskie. Once we got to the end of the docks we pretty much kept working East in a mix of rice and reeds. Bill in the front of the boat was pulling an occasional fish while I was throwing the white Horny Toad, a brown Bobby's Perfect Snagproof Frog, and a tube jig hauling water. One time when Bill was culling and I was in the front of the boat I cast the tube ways into the rice and pulled out a 15". We jumped around and worked some reeds and then more Rice with Bill pulling more fish and me getting blanked. We were working rice and I threw into an open area with a Bobby's Snagproof frog and got a strike which I landed but it was under the 12-inch minimum. You don't catch shorts on Snagproof frogs very often.

We moved to the Southside of Boy bay into some awesome looking water and I landed another short on the Snagproof Frog, what is with that. After a long lull, Bill moved us to an area where he thought I could fill my limit with some small fish. I managed to get a 12.5 on the Snagproof frog on this water.

Time was starting to run short, so we headed back to the area where I got my big fish. Unfortunately, the long day in the sun was wearing on me pretty good at this point and I wasn't at my best. Right away I had a bite on the Horny Toad and missed it. About 5 minutes later I had another great bite on the Toad and I came up empty again. A few minutes after that there was a massive explosion on the Horny Toad but I didn't hook up this time either and that was my last bite of the day.

On the way in we did throw a quick hail mary for me in the reeds where we started. I was worn out and highly disappointed in my execution.

Results:
I ended up one short of my limit with 5 fish for 9lbs 4ozs which got me 17th out of 24. If I would have landed my bites I probably would have been 14th or better. My partner Bill had 13/11 and got 10th. The winner was Dennis with 19/13 and big bass was only 5/0 and went to Art Becker who will be my boater at Gull Lake.

Analysis: I just did not have a very good day on the water. Lousy execution.

Bass Snatcher Pelican Lake August 8th, 2009

The Weather: Morning light fog with a 5 to 8 MPH breeze, the fog lifted around 10:30AM but it was a heavy overcast until about 1PM when the skies cleared and the wind died.

Pelican is an 8,000-acre lake just a bit North of Brainerd MN and it has clear water. We launched out of a small bay on the SW corner of the lake. I was in the first boat out but we were making a long run North in one of the slowest boats in the tournament, so my boater Dennis was worried about possibly not being 1st to where he wanted to start. We had a total of 12 boats and 23 guys fishing. As it turns out his worries were unfounded. We started by what I think is a big sunken island where a sand flat met a breakline with some weeds. Dennis had found a good school here during prefish and was quite confident in the spot. It didn't take long and I got a bite on my smoke tube but the bass was not a keeper at just over 11 inches. I think Dennis then caught a rock bass and things slowed down, Dennis was kind of miffed the fish were not cooperating but he eventually did bring the first keeper into the boat.

I decided conditions were conducive to a topwater bite so I put on a gold Berkley Frenzy Popper. After about 5 minutes the popper was smashed by a 21-inch pike. After fishing for about 10 minutes with nothing I tried a white Spook, but that hauled water and Dennis decided it was time to move to a new spot. We moved to a depression in a flat that had weeds in it. I started throwing a bullfrog Frenzy Popper thinking I might need a little brighter bait in the heavy overcast. I had a fish miss the popper but it came back for a second try and hooked up; It was a 14.5" bass, so I was on the board. A little while later I had a fish miss the Popper 3 or 4 times before it finally hooked up and I landed the 15.5 incher. I think Dennis caught a couple on a Texas rigged tube, so I went back to throwing the smoke tube and I caught 12.25" squeaker. Dennis had a nice bass follow a blue/black tube to the boat which got me thinking that maybe the fish would be willing to chase something swimming so I put on a black/blue Strike King Pure Poison chatterjig, however, I didn't get anything on it at this spot.

Eventually, Dennis decided to move and we went to a weed bed on the Northside of an island where the wind was blowing in pretty good. I thought it was perfect conditions for the Pure Poison and I was right. I nailed a 15" on my second or third cast. A few casts later and I was reeling in 18.25 that just engulfed the Pure Poison. Dennis was not quite pleased that I pulled a big fish off one of his big fish spots, so he was giving me crap. A few minutes later I was hooked up with my limit fish which was a quality 15.25" largemouth. We worked back over the area a second time and I had a couple of bumps that didn't hook up and I think Dennis missed a bite too.

Next, we were off to another one of Dennis' big fish spots but a pontoon was sitting right on it. The next two spots Dennis wanted to hit were covered up by Bass Snatcher boats and we ended up fishing a little ways from 3 Bass Snatcher Boats. I think Dennis got a fish on the next couple of stops while I caught nothing.

Eventually, we ended up at our starting spot and I started chucking a gold Berkley Frenzy Popper. I believe Dennis filled his limit and started culling which gave me confidence fish were in the area, so I kept throwing the Popper. On one of the retrieves about 20 feet out from the boat I had a strike and was able to land the barely hooked fish that went a little over 15 inches, which got rid of my squeaker. At this point, I was pretty pleased that I would be weighing a pretty good bag of fish. Things kind of got slow for me for a while.

Around 1PM the sun came out and it got calm. We quickly tried the area by the Island again before the pleasure boaters would start to show up, but we didn't get anything. Next, it was back to one of the weedy depressions.

I got a fish that didn't help then I got another hit that didn't hook up so I threw right back to the same area. I got another hit and it was a good fish that just inhaled the smoke tube; this fish went 17.25 inches. A little while later I had another good hit from a bigger fish but it got off before I was able to see what it was, I think it might have been a pike. About 2 minutes later I had another hit on the tube and brought in a chunky 17.00-inch bass. Dennis thought I was probably 1 more quality fish away from winning. I did get a couple more fish that didn't help and it turns out Dennis was right on the needing 1 more good fish.

My 6 fish went 14 even which ended up putting me in 4th, just 3 ozs out of 3rd place. 1st Place was 15lbs 7ozs and 2nd was 15lbs 6ozs and they came from the same boat; They spent a lot of time in one of those depressions on water Dennis wanted to fish. My partner Dennis was not so unhappy about getting "back seated" when he found out his 12/11 put him right behind me in 5th place.

Analysis: I owe my success in this one to my boater Dennis who was on good fish and made good decisions about where we should be fishing and when. Dennis also kept me entertained all day with his curmudgeonish trash talk. It is possible that I had the bites to win with that one good fish getting off but I'll never know because I never did get a look at the one that got away.

I am now tied for 11th Place in the club standings (32 fisherman club) but I am 9th overall in terms of weight of fish caught for the season which I think is maybe a better barometer about how you actually fished for the season.

Bass Snatchers Lake Ida July 18th 2009

Weather: Overcast for most of the day with it being partly sunny the last couple of hours. The wind was pretty much out of the N NW at 5 to 10MPH.

We blasted off a little after 7:30AM and my boater Joe and I raced to our starting spot on the West side of the lake which was a string of small reed beds broken up by docks. I think it was fairly calm right along shore in the reeds but if you cast out into the lake and where the boat was sitting there was a ripple on the water. We were working North about 10 minutes in and Joe had a strike on his Snagproof Frog and landed the 1st bass of the day. We got down to the last or 2nd to the last group of reeds which is where I caught a couple of bass on tubes casting out into the lake during prefish. I started throwing a smoke tube out into the lake and was rewarded with a fish that just went over the 12-inch minimum.

As I was casting out something just got smoked out over the weed flat about 2 and a half cast lengths out. I decided it might be a good thing to throw a gold Berkley Frenzy Popper. I didn't bring the rod I like to use for that so I had to rig up one of my swim jig rods. While I was rigging up Joe caught a high 2lb bass off a dock with the Snagproof frog. I started throwing the Frenzy Popper out over the weed flat as Joe worked us back over the water we had just covered. Something swirled about 10 feet off the back of the boat and I immediately hit the spot with the Popper and was rewarded with a 14.75" largemouth.

We worked down to where we started and then back north again to the dock where Joe got his fish. After that, we moved out onto the weed flat and drifted South with the wind. There was a dead 3 to 4 pound Northern floating on the surface about 30 feet from the boat when a group of Pelicans flew by and the lead bird swooped down scooped up the pike and just kept right on flying, it was pretty cool. I think I had a swirl that missed the Popper and shortly after that, I landed a 12.75" largie. I had another fish swirl on the Popper and miss. We worked an offshore reed bed and I missed a bite on a white Zoom Horny Toad, I think it was a small fish. Nothing more happened at the reed bed and so we pulled up stakes and headed South.

The next spot we went to was an area with lily pads that are behind a large reed bed. Joe had got fish here both days of pre-fishing. I think I got bit at a couple of times by pike. Joe had a keeper bass take the Snagproof Frog close to the boat and as he was swinging it in his reel gave out some line and the fish hit the side of the boat and came off. That one hurt as it was close to 2lbs and Joe ended up one short of a limit for the day.

Next, we headed to some small reed beds kind of like our starting spot. I believe Joe landed his 3rd keeper at this spot on the Snagproof Frog. I was casting a weedless tube into the reeds when I had a solid pick up and I set the hook hard into what felt to be a good fish. Unfortunately, it was a 3lb northern pike. A little while later I nabbed bass number 4 (12.75") on a white Zoom Horny Toad in the reeds.

Next, we went into a big shallow bay and started working the shoreline heading North. Joe missed a good hit right by the shore with the Snagproof Frog. Sometimes I was casting in towards the shore and sometimes I was casting out over the weed flat with the Zoom Horny Toad. On a cast out over the weed flat the Toad got annihilated by 14.75" largemouth. A little while down the shoreline Joe pulled a 17inch 3lb 2oz beauty off an isolated piece of wood in the weeds. Eventually, I took a break to eat a couple of sandwiches and Joe bird dogged a fish that turned out to be a small pike. The fish was in some super shallow slop and Joe could get it to wake to the frog but it wouldn't hit it. Eventually, he motored up and got a look at it to discover it was a pike. Joe decided he wanted to eat something so he let me take the front of the boat and shortly after that I got my limit fish (12.75") on the Horny Toad. Joe got back up and started fishing and had his Snagproof Frog stolen by a little pike next to a dock. We tried to recover the frog but it was nowhere to be found so the pike probably ate it.

Next, we headed up to the North end of the lake to work some more pads and reeds. Before we got into the pads there were some cattails and Joe pulled his 5th and last keeper on the Snagproof Frog. We worked some awesome looking pads but with the overcast, it just wasn't happening. Finally, as we were coming to the end of the pads and for some reason Joe had me take the front of the boat. I got hit in a pocket between the cattails and pads with a watermelon Brovarney Swim jig with watermelon Zoom Speed Craw trailer. Despite a lousy hook set I landed the 14-incher and culled out my 12". We fished more good looking water in this area but couldn't get bit, so we headed back to our starting spot.

When we got to my tube spot, I naturally started throwing the smoke tube and I culled up 3 more times (13.75", 13.75", 14.25"). Both Joe and I got bit off by Pike and that was the last of our fish. We did go back to Joe's pad spot where he fumbled that keeper but didn't get anything and then it was time to head in.

My big bass was only 1lb 10ozs and my 6 fish went 8lbs 8ozs which put me in 15th out of 22 anglers. I had the lightest limit of the tournament. My boater Joe had 9lbs 7ozs and came in 12th. The winner blew everyone away with 16 and a half pounds by fishing docks in the wind using his Power Pole. Big Bass was this 6lb 6oz beast caught by Owen Lease.


Analysis- I felt like I fished well and pretty much caught what there was to catch and that is all I can ask. It was the first tournament of the year that I feel good about despite the mediocre showing. I feel bad for Joe, had he landed that fish that hit the side of the boat, he may have finished as high as 5th. Both Joe and I caught a couple of dinks that I didn't mention.

Where I Sit: With half the season now over I sit mired in 20th place, there are just 6 anglers beneath me that have fished at least 2 out of the 3 tournaments (we get to throw out our worst showing of the year). I actually am 1 point ahead of where I was at this time last year. Last year I ended the last 3 tournaments with a 17th, 3rd, and 20th which averages out to a 13th place showing. I would really like to improve on last year's points and I think that will prove a challenge because I have only fished above 13th place once now in 9 Bass Snatcher tournaments. I guess all I can do is hope for good partner draws and fish as smart as I can.

Bass Snatchers Ida Pre-fish

We will start this report at the end of the day. My boater Joe and I were headed home between Parkers Prairie and Eagle Bend when the truck shuddered and the next thing I knew a wheel was passing by the driver's side door. It was one of Joe's boat trailer tires. The tire went into the ditch and then into the woods quite away in front of where we stopped the truck. Luckily Joe was able to find the tire. Putting the tire back on was easy, getting the lug nuts tight was another story that I won't get into.

After about an hour and a half, we were back on the road.

Weather: Yesterday it rained and stormed and the days forecast called for temps in the high 60's to low 70's with strong West winds and sun. When we got to the lake around 9:30AM it was quite overcast and windy. The sun eventually came out around 1PM.

The Fishing: Joe had been out on Ida on Saturday and found some fish shallow. Basically, the day was dedicated to the search for shallow areas and fish. Joe loves to throw a Snagproof Frog and Ida has a fair amount of pads and reeds to explore and that is what we did for most of the day with mixed results. At times it was impossible to fish in the reeds due to the wind. The reeds tend to be tall and thick at this point of the year so about the only bait you can fish in that tangle is slop frogs like Snagproofs and Spro's. We did find a few fish and the bite seemed to be better when the sun was out. Here is Joe with his best fish of the day.


I didn't catch a single fish on a slop frog, but I didn't throw it most of the time like Joe. I did have a few bites on the surface, but I really wasn't trying to catch these fish only to get them to show themselves so we would know productive areas. Basically, the bass I did catch came on a tube on weedlines and they were not very big with the exception of this 2lber.

We didn't really look for this type of water and I only threw the tube in a couple of spots but when the water looked right I got bit. I also got a few bites and caught 1 keeper bass on swim jigs.

Outlook: I am a little concerned about this tournament because I think it might be tough to catch fish behind Joe if we stay shallow for the day. From today's results it just didn't seem like there were good numbers of fish up shallow and where we did get fish seemed to favor the front of the boat although if there is less wind on Saturday that should open up some water. I think for me this lake is going to fish quite similar to what I did at the last tournament at South Long with heavy doses of the Zoom Horny Toad and Zoom Super Fluke. I will probably be throwing a slop frog more and a swim jig less. If I can catch 10lbs and a limit I'll be thrilled. I don't have high expectations.

Bass Snatchers South Long June 21st 2009

South Long Lake was the location of my 2nd Baxter Bass Snatchers Bass Club tournament of the year. The weather forecast for the day called for overcast with showers arriving in the late morning and continuing into the afternoon with 10-15mph SE winds building in the late morning. The actual weather was pretty close to the forecast although the sun came out from about 9 to 11AM and the winds seemed to be lighter than predicted. At the end of the tournament day there was light rain that got a little heavier around weigh in at 3PM. I never put on rain gear and was saved at the weigh in because there was a tent set up for us. We were fortunate to be able to weigh in at a home on the lake.

My boater Dwight and I launched on the North end of the lake around 6AM and then we had to make our way South to the Public Access where we would have the blast off. On the way South Dwight pointed out some docks that we would hit first thing if a lot of boats went to the South end of the lake at blast off. Dwight and I were last boat to blast off out of 11 boats so we would see where everyone else went first.

I think we had blast off around 6:50AM and all but 1 boat went North, so Dwight and I went back to the original plan which was to go to the South end of the lake to start the day. On our way South we hit some docks that we pulled some good fish off of when we pre-fished. Nobody was home and so we made our way to the South End of the the lake just to the North of where the river flows out. The plan was to spend the morning and possibly most of the day working the slop in the South end of the lake. I started out throwing a white Zoom Horny Toad and had a fish blow up on it right away but I missed it. It wouldn't go after the Horny Toad again, so I followed up with a bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke which was promptly slashed at by the fish which turned out to be a pike. We moved on.

As we made our way North Dwight had a blow up on his Spro Frog and it was a good fish that we got a good look at when it jumped. Unfortunately it buried itself in the lily pads and got off. I think that was the only bite we got working North in this particular run of slop. When we got to where the slop ended there was another tournament boat so we headed across the bay to work some more slop, predominated by pads. While working this stretch I had a big blow up on a yellow Zoom Horny Toad that didn't hook up and I didn't get anything with my follow ups. We went for a long stretch without anything but when we got close to where the river flows out I had another blow up that didn't hook up. I threw right back and let the toad sink and there was a swirl so I set the hook and landed 12.5" keeper. As we kept moving North we were now reworking the water we started on. As we were passing a dock with a pontoon I made a nice long cast with a bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke beyond the pontoon in front of where a short section of dock came out. Sure enough there was a swirl and I set the hook. The fish moved to my left behind the pontoon and my line got caught up with a rope on the pontoon and the bass completely came out of the water. Dwight quickly moved us over there and netted the 12.75" bass. That would be the last fish on the far South end of the lake. After running pretty much to the end of the slop run we decided to move out of the area.

Once again when we got to the narrows we hit the docks that gave up good fish when we pre-fished. Dwight pulled a small keeper off of one of the docks. We ended up running a lot of shallow docks moving North and didn't get anymore bites. We moved out into some reeds and didn't get any bites. We moved on to a weed flat and didn't get any bites. We moved into some slop/pads and Dwight pulled a solid 2 pounder on a black/blue jig and beaver pitching in the pads. I was throwing a Horny Toad and not getting any bites. We worked the area without any more bites, so we decided to head to the North end of the lake to some slop where we got some hits in pre-fish.

The area we went to on the North end of the lake had junk weeds, pads, and some docks. Near a dock I spotted a 2lb bass close to the boat and cast to it with the yellow Zoom Horny Toad. It started swimming towards the Toad like it was going to take it, but then veered off and disappeared; none of my follow ups would find this fish. As we were moving along Dwight spotted a solid 2+ pound fish that had a lure in the side of it's mouth but all the fish did was swim right by the boat. We got to another dock and I had a blow up on a black Zoom Horny Toad but once again I didn't hook up. Dwight flipped into some weeds by this dock and had a pick up but he didn't hook the fish. I immediately threw back to the spot of my blow up with the bubblegum Super Fluke and was rewarded with a 14.25" bass. We kept working this area which looked awesome but couldn't find anymore fish.

Dwight conferred with me and I suggested we go hit an area about mid point in the lake where there was reeds, pads, maidencane, cattails and slop and so that is where we went. Dwight was working us into some docks before we would go into the reeds and pads when he connected with a 2lb bass on a white spinnerbait. I sent a short fish flying on a hook set with the black Horny Toad. As we got into the reeds there was a pontoon fishing to the South of us and Dwight spotted them pull in a dogfish and two bass on spinnerbaits, so he threw his spinnerbait and was rewarded with keeper bass that filled his limit. I started throwing a gold/white Brovarney Swim Jig with gold glitter 5" Action Plastic Super Mag grub and caught a 12inch keeper. I threw the swim jig into an opening in the reeds and something bit at the jig but didn't get it. I threw back and it was fish on. As I was reeling it in it jumped way out of the water and then dove and pulled off. Dwight thought it was a 4lb+ fish; I didn't get the greatest look at it but it was a 3lber minimum. Missing this fish really hurt me. I continued to throw the swim jig and caught a 14.75" and another fish that was just over 12.

Dwight culled a couple of times pitching a black/blue jig in the weeds. I tried a black/blue jig without success and then went to throwing the black Zoom Horny Toad with which I culled a 12 incher with a 12.75" and a 12.15" with a 13.5". We went back and worked over the most productive stretch of water but couldn't get bit so once again we headed South to the pads where Dwight pulled the fish on the jig. I was throwing the Horny Toad and had a couple of fish that had to be small swipe at it. It started to rain and conditions seemed perfect for the fish to get active so we worked ourselves into a reed bed but couldn't get bit.

We were running out of time, so we headed across the way to some sparse pads. I had a big dogfish follow my Horny Toad, but there were no bass to be found and it was time to head to weigh in on the North end of the lake.
At weigh in my big bass was a measly 1lb 10ozs and my 6 fish bag went 7lbs 12ozs which put me in 15th out of 22 anglers. My partner Dwight had 10lbs 15ozs and captured 9th place. The winning bag was 14lbs 3ozs and big bass was 3lbs 15ozs.

Due to the low club turn out, the 15th place finish tied my 2nd best placement in the club this far to date. Had I caught the big one that got off I probably would have moved up 3 more places and possibly as many as 6 if it was over 4lbs like Dwight thought.

Post Tournament Thoughts: This one was a disappointment in that the fishing wasn't nearly as good as I expected it to be. The quality of the fish I got on the Horny Toad was a let down. My execution on fish that bit was a bit of a let down especially due to the fact that my opportunities were limited. The size of the fish I am catching so far this year is a let down. Basically I am now scrapping the bottom of the barrel among those who have fished both tournaments and weren't disqualified. I am not fishing as well as I did at this point last year even though I actually have 1 more point than I did at this point last year. Bottom line is that I expect to fish better than the level I have been performing at this year in the tournaments.

Our next tournament isn't until July 18th and is at Lake Ida North of Alexandria. I have never fished the lake and don't really know much about it other than it has smallmouth in addition to largies. I am thinking that my partner draw in this one is going to be especially crucial to the outcome for me. My partner draws so far this year are better than my results should indicate. If any Bass Pundit reader wants to fill me in on Ida my email is basspundit@hotmail.com .

South Long Lake Pre-fish

(My boater Dwight with a 4lber)

I'm going to try not to say to much in this pre-fish report because we had what would seem to be a pretty successful pre-fish. Had today been tournament day, my boater Dwight probably would have won things going away and I had enough bites to keep me interested even though the fish I caught were not huge, but they weren't Cedar Lake like short fish or barely keepers either. I also pre-fished a lot of the time in such a way that I wasn't going to hook the highest percentage of fish that bit.

I arrived at the lake a little before 2PM and club member Herman who I fished with at Farm Island lake last year was just pulling his boat out. I don't think he caught a fish and he said he only had two bites. He seemed to be a little disgusted with the amount of slimy green moss in the lake. About 10 minutes after Herman left, Dwight showed up and we were on the water by 2:20PM. There was at least 1 other club guy out pre-fishing today.

We did fish some good looking water and didn't get bit like we would have liked, but we found plenty of good looking water that was holding fish. One surprise is that we didn't really seem to run into lots of little northern pike, which was nice. I was hoping to tangle with a few nice dogfish but none of them made an appearance.

The way things are shaping up I think I am going to really like fishing this lake. South Long has a lot of water that is tailor made for fishing Zoom Horny Toads, slop frogs, and lighter swim jigs and I am all about that. Hopefully the weather and fish will cooperate with our primary game plan.

Bass Snatchers Cedar Lake (Aitken) May 30, 2009

Originally this tournament day was slated for Gull Lake, but due to the Minnesota Teen Challenge Tournament, they switched to Cedar Lake West of Aiken. I wasn't at the meeting when they made the switch and when everything was out on the table I was not happy about the switch. All that was left was to make the best of it and I didn't.

Going in our plan was to fish cabbage weedlines/weed beds and hit lots of docks. The forecast called for it to be sunny and mild but with 20-30mph winds out of the NW. A front came through the night before tournament day, so it was high pressure, post-frontal conditions. The tournament was from 7AM to 3PM For the 1st hour of the morning the winds were manageable and we were able to effectively fish a weedline/weedbed that was in the wind. I started out throwing a salt and pepper Zoom Trick Worm and got the first fish of the day for our boat, unfortunately it was a rock bass. Actually my partner Adam had the first bite of the day, it was a pike or muskie that bit him off on the strike. I got the second fish of the day and it was a small Northern Pike. I got the 3rd fish of the day and it was an 11.75" in largemouth bass. The minimum size is 12" so back in the lake it went. My partner Adam then got on the board with a solid keeper. On this weedline I would land 3 more largies that were just a little bit short of 12". We basically worked through the area one and a half times and stopped getting bit so we went to some wind protected docks. I believe Adam landed 1 good keeper off the docks. Next we went to some docks that were in the wind, but the wind wasn't terrible yet, and didn't get anything. Next we fished a cabbage weed point and Adam got a couple more keepers and I landed a couple more that were just under 12", I also had a bite that stripped the Zoom Speed Craw off my Brovarney Swim Jig. The wind really started whipping when we fished this spot.

Next we went to a point/cabbage weedline/weedbed that was in the wind. The spot looked great but to fish it effectively in the strong wind it called for horizontal presentations and the fish if they were there were having none of it. I don't think we even got a bite on this excellent looking area. Next we hit some more docks that were pretty much wind protected and I picked up 2 keepers on a bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke. I felt really fortunate to get the fish because by now I had learned that Adam is excellent at skipping jigs at docks with a baitcaster, very accurate and efficient.

We went to fish some more semi-wind protected docks and Adam picked up fish so he started culling. I got on the trolling motor while Adam was culling. I was coming around the end of a boat lift when I made an errant cast and got hung up. Not wanting to disturb the spot I broke off. Before I knew Adam was back fishing again he had a nice bass in the boat that just nailed his jig when he fished it in the spot that my Fluke should have been. Basically blowing this great opportunity to add a 3rd solid keeper would really cost me because for the next couple of hours things got really slow for me. Meanwhile Adam was catching an occasional keeper and also got a 30+ inch Muskie on a dock. At one point I believe Adam was culling so I was on the trolling motor and I got a bite on the Fluke and pulled in a 12 inch rock bass.

We were running wind blown docks in some serious waves when Adam added a nice bass in between docks. While he was culling I got a fish on brown Strike King Pure Poison Chatterjig and thought for sure I had a keeper bass, but it was a pike. A couple of minutes later Adam tied into a 40 inch class Muskie which we did land and Adam took pictures of me holding, which he hopefully will email me.


We were on a stretch of semi wave protected docks when Adam got a couple more keeper fish not under the docks but near them, meanwhile I landed a fish that was just short of 12" at around 11 7/8ths. Adam told me to clip it and hoped that it might grow a little in the livewell as he had seen that happen to fish before.

Basically we re-ran a bunch of water we had already fished for most of the rest of the day. I missed one good opportunity with the Fluke and I think Adam maybe picked up one more key fish and got 2 or 3 keepers that didn't help. While we were re-running a bunch of docks in the wind and waves I got my 3rd keeper and best fish on the Pure Poison chatterjig on the last dock in the line.

In the last hour we fished a new wind protected inside weedline with cabbage. I landed yet another 11.75 fish. A little later on my Fluke disappeared and when I set the hook, I thought the line had broke but actually the Fluke just got stripped off the hook. Adam got a keeper that didn't help him under a dock that had just been fished by another tournament boat.

In the last 20 minutes we fished a the wave protected spot that we had some bites off earlier. Once again Adam got a bass that didn't help. Our last stop was on a wave protected shoreline that I don't remember hitting. I got a solid hook up on the Pure Poison but it turned out to be a 25 inch pike and that was basically it.

For the day I got 3 keepers for 4lbs 2ozs which put me in 23rd out of 26 anglers. I landed 8 bass that were over 11" but short of 12" and a couple that were under 10", 3 pike, and 2 rock bass, so it wasn't like I wasn't catching any fish. My partner Adam got 2nd Place with 13lbs 10ozs.

Other than the fact that the fishing wasn't so great for me, I had a good time on the water with Adam who is a really good guy and excellent fisherman. My choice to not to take the front of the boat other than when my partner is culling probably more than anything cost me a shot at a limit, but it also had to be a factor in Adam getting 2nd place. He has come very close to being club Mr. Bass/Angler of the Year for the past couple of years. I hope he can show the old timers how it's done this season.

Cedar Lake Pre-fish

(The only picture I got was when we were off the lake, so you can see the rig I will be fishing tournament day.)

Today I prefished Cedar lake West of Aiken in Aiken County for my Baxter Bass Snatchers with my boater for the tournament Adam. Cedar is a lake with lots of bays, plenty of undeveloped shoreline and varying water clarity. Most of Cedar is deep water and medium depth weed flats are seemed to be almost non-existent. Most of the time we were either in fairly shallow water or on a steep break near shore. I think we are hitting this lake a little too early because of it's depth the grass is late blooming and so cover right now is pretty scarce or last years growth.

We covered a lot of water and saw more fish than we caught which isn't saying much. We saw quite a few crappies which looked like they were bedding, but very little bass bedding activity but there were some. The sunfish seemed to be scattered and not very abundant. I also saw quite a few pike and 1 muskie.

I caught 3 small keepers and 1 dink and 2 pike. I missed several strikes on the Zoom Super Fluke which I assume probably were pike because they were swirling on it and not hooking up which is rare for bass but common for pike. I caught all the keepers on a swim jig.

Assessment: If it is a good bass lake it didn't show it today, maybe if the grass was farther along that would make a big difference as there would be some good pad and reed area's and even a little rice. We did talk to a boat that was bass fishing that said the fishing on the lake was much better yesterday, so maybe the cold night pushed em back.

For the tournament their will be heavy doses of jigs, Zoom Super Flukes, and Zoom Horny Toads. I eliminated hard jerkbaits and hard topwaters because there really won't be good water for these things. I don't anticipate using spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, or chatterjigs unless there is significant wind. There wasn't much wind today and there is a very good chance you are fishing at least semi protected water because of the many bays.

Since I got 3 keepers when we were covering and eliminating water I think there is a good chance I will get a limit, but size is a real concern.

Blast from the past.

Back in 2004 with the help of my friend Mike Davis I fished 3 Excel Singles events put on by Joel Stokka. The Picture is from Rabbit Lake where I placed 3rd. Some of the best bass anglers in the Brainerd area fish Excel Singles and at Rabbit I was beat by two good one's in Pro Fisherman and Guide Tom Whitehead (brown shirt) and fellow Baxter Bass Snatcher Chuck Fields (blue shirt). I might have placed higher but my kicker was a really skinny fish that could have weighed a 1/2 to 3/4 of a pound more if it was filled out.

Here are my Excel Singles Results from 2004:

6/6/04 Gull Lake 11.88lbs for 12th out of 36 anglers. I had never been on Gull Lake before that morning and it might have cost me because I didn't find the channel that I wanted to fish first thing in the morning. Mike Davis was actually in the boat with me to observe how I went about my tournament day. I didn't go far from the launch point, in fact I caught most of my fish on Flukes and Senko's on the other side (South) of the point where the HQ Ernie's on Gull is located. I was proud of my finish in this one.

6/27/04 Rabbit Lake 10.92lbs for 3rd out of 34. I caught em on a bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke shallow and my biggest bass was a fluke that I was very lucky to get in the boat.

7/18/04 Whitefish Chain Skunk! Last out of 30. I had only been on Whitefish once and caught lots of fish that day pre-fishing with Mike Davis; By tournament day they vacated the area and my lack of familiarity with the lake just killed me. The up side is that I won a Fig Rig rod (6'6") in a drawing before the tournament started in the morning. At the dock someone said, "You probably used up your luck for the day when you won that rod." I guess he was a prophet. That rod has served me well, I primarily have used it for Frenzy Poppers, spinnerbaits, and jerkbaits for eye's and bass.

I didn't fish the last two tournaments of the year.

Bass Snatchers Mission Lake Oct. 4, 2008

I had one goal going into this tournament and that was to catch my 6 fish limit so I would have caught a limit in all 6 tournaments on the schedule. Accomplishing this goal would be a mark of distinction especially fishing from the back of the boat. Up until this year in the 31-year history of the Baxter Bass Snatcher Club, a total of only 7 different anglers had ever caught a limit in every tournament in a season and those 7 did it only 16 times. I was pretty hungry to achieve this goal and at 1pm with only 2 keepers in the well, I began to feel the pressure. Did I rally or fall flat? Read On

On my way to the lake in the morning, I missed a right turn and was headed North on the wrong road. I kind of sensed something may be wrong and I kept looking for a sign to tell me if I was on 3 or not. I finally got to a road identification sign and I was on 4, not 3. I immediately turned around and sped back the way I had come. When I got to 3 there were two bass boats that pulled in just in front of me and sure enough, they were Bass Snatchers, so I got to the access without any more problems. I met my partner Dennis Lothspeich and got my rods and tackle loaded into his boat. Dennis and I got the boat launched into a fairly heavy fog. It had gotten down below freezing this morning and that combined with the warm water made a world of white.

Due to the fog, Dennis decided to start on a weed point right at our blast off point in front of the public access on Upper Mission. As we were waiting for blast off the Lowrance was marking fish activity on the point. I thought maybe blastoff would be delayed because of the fog, but Dennis said: "not in this club." Before blastoff they made the announcement that it was idle speed only until the fog cleared. The boats had to gather closer in for the blast off.

I think Dennis just put the trolling motor in the water and started moving us toward the weed point. By the time it was our turn we were pretty much on the spot and started casting. On his second cast, Dennis tied into a good fish on a jignpig. He got her up and into the net and it was the days big bass at 4lbs3ozs. Dennis had an awesome head start on sewing up the title "Mr. Bass", which goes to the top placing fisherman for the year. Another boat started just to the East of us and they landed a fish right away too. I was throwing a black single Colorado blade spinnerbait at first but then switched to a black/blue jignpig. I don't remember if Dennis got one more fish off the spot or not, but I didn't get anything.

After about 45 minutes of working the weed point the fog had cleared a little and so Dennis ran us to the spot we would have started on if not for the fog. This spot was on the East side of a lake and was a weedline outside of some reeds and adjacent to a weed flat. It didn't take long and Dennis landed another keeper. Shortly after that, I got my first keeper on the black spinnerbait. I believe Dennis landed another keeper. I switched my jignpig to green pumpkin like his and also tried some topwater because we did see some activity on the surface. I did miss a hit on the Jignpig and on the spinnerbait. Eventually, we worked our way South onto the weed flat and Dennis picked up two good fish on a white spinnerbait. I got a little discouraged because my spinnerbait didn't come up with anything.

The fog was totally gone now and we had been fishing this second area for about an hour, so we headed back to our first spot. I think Dennis picked up his limit fish quickly on the weed point and I got my second keeper on the green pumpkin JigNpig. I was very glad at this point to see that I could come up with a jignpig fish. We worked our way West to towards an area where another boat (Chuck Steinbauer my North Long Partner) started. I believe Dennis picked up a couple more keepers along the way. As we approached the spot Dennis was really high on Mark Munson my Serpent Lake Partner beat us to it. I did catch a pike in front of them.

It was around 10:30am and so Dennis made a planned run down to Lower Mission Lake. Dennis had a stretch of water he was quite confident in and so we went there. I had something bump the spinnerbait good but not hook up. A little while later I caught a pike. Dennis was a little discouraged that we didn't get a bass on the first pass and took us back the way we came on a second pass, still no bass.

Next, we headed to a sunken island that has some awesome looking coontail clumps on it. The book says that bass and coontail in the Fall go together like pigs and mud. As we were just getting started on this spot Dennis told me that this area didn't hold any bass for him in prefishing but it was full of pike. Almost immediately after he said that I picked up my 3rd pike, and it was a nice one, on the black spinnerbait. We worked the whole sunken island with the beautiful coontail and came up with nothing.

Dennis made the decision around 11:30 to head back to Upper Mission. The first spot we went to was by another club boat. They were working the reeds and we saw them catch a fish. Dennis had us work the outside weedline but we came up with nothing. It was sunny and around noon when Dennis pulled up and went back to the 2nd spot we went to in the morning.

I believe Dennis landed a pike then had a couple of bite offs. I may have caught a pike to, but don't remember. Dennis did get a bass or two on the jignpig before we moved up on the flat. With the sun up Dennis figured the flat would turn on but it didn't. I tried the black spinnerbait, a Red Eye Shad, Rattletraps, Baby Minus Ones, Spro shallow runners all to no avail. It was now about 12:30pm and I only had those two fish in the box so I was off the pace to get my limit for the day and I could feel the pressure start. We worked a long way down the flat when Dennis finally hooked up with a spinnerbait fish. I took the front of the boat when he went to cull and immediately hooked up with a 12inch squeaker that barely made the line. Another boat came along and told us that the fish were biting in the reeds. We decided to work our way back North on the flat and I threw a buzzbait but it just was not happening. We headed back to our starting spot.

As we worked the weed point I got a thump on the jignpig and landed a solid bass. We started working our way West and I was rewarded with 2 more keeper bass on the black spinnerbait, so I did have my limit by about 1:30pm and I was relieved, though I did want to get rid of that 12incher just in case. It didn't take long and the 12 incher was gone in favor of a totally safe 13inch fish.

We moved to a spot that Dennis said used to hold big fish but doesn't anymore, but still usually holds fish. I got one bass on the black spinnerbait that culled up slightly, then Dennis got a bass on the jig. I got another hit and the bass came up to jump, when it did my line went slack and I reeled in with nothing but the knot. Apparently, my spinnerbait must have broken in two. I did have one more spinnerbait just like the one I broke so I tied it on.

As we both had our limits and were in need of bigger fish Dennis decided to head back to the lower lake on the area that he had confidence in. Once again we did nothing on this spot, not even a bite. We then went up and worked some docks, reeds, and pads. Dennis saw a 2lber swimming around in the reeds but we didn't get any bass. I had a good strike on the 1/2oz black spinnerbait and it was a pike that was over 5lbs. Instead of having Dennis net it I was going to try and handle it boat side which was a mistake because I ended up with the spinnerbait breaking in two. That was my last 1/2oz black spinnerbait. I put on a 3/8oz black spinnerbait.

We stopped working the shore we were on and tried the area close to the channel on the North side of Lower Mission. I got a couple of keepers that didn't help and I think Dennis got a pike and one that didn't help.

Next, we worked the reeds on the West end of Upper Long. My 3/8oz spinnerbait was not heavy enough to work in these thick reeds so I switched to a double Colorado blade 1/2oz spinnerbait. While I was getting it unstuck from some reeds the top blade and swivel came off of the wire. I then switched up to a jignpig, then a Zoom Horny Toad. I got another keeper that didn't help on the Horny Toad. Soon we came to a weed flat without reeds and I switched back to the black spinnerbait. I got a fish but I don't remember if it was a pike or a little bass.

Time was now running short, so we headed back to the reed line just West of the access. We worked that for a while with no success so we called it quits.

Results:
My 6 fish weighed 10lbs 3ozs which was only good enough for 20th out of 25, but I didn't care because I got that limit. Dennis ended up with 15lbs 4ozs and came in 3rd place thus winning Mr. Bass honors with ease. Even so, Dennis did not get a limit in all 6 tournaments, missing a limit at Serpent by one fish. There were 23 limits caught by the 25 anglers and the top two weights came from the same boat, 19lbs12ozs, and 15lbs 6ozs. So everyone pretty much got clobbered by Jake Hughes. Four other anglers this year caught a limit in all 6 tournaments, so the five of us that did it set a new club record for # of guys doing it in one year.

Bass Snatcher Serpant Lake 9/20/2008

When I arrived at Serpent Lake just after 7AM my partner Mark already has his boat in the water. I loaded up my gear and then we waited for the 8am blast off. When I was at the dock Bill Ludenia told me bass were on the flats biting on jig and pigs. When I was in the boat with Mark he talked about throwing spinnerbaits on the flats. I asked him if he was considering throwing a buzzbait at all and he showed me that he had one tied on. On the West end of the lake by the public access there was just a light breeze blowing and there was a slight haze, but not enough to call it overcast.

At blast off we were boat #11 out of 12 and when it was our turn we headed East down the lake as fast as the boat would go and that was pretty fast. We ended up stopping on the Eastern Edge of a weed flat on the North side of the lake where Mark had gotten a big bass once upon a time, as we were getting into position another Bass Snatcher boat came into the same general area.

I started off throwing a pumpkinseed swim jig with a Zoom Speed Craw trailer and I was quickly rewarded with a fish on. It turned out to be the first of many pike that I would catch this day. Mark started out with a spinnerbait but quickly put that down for a buzzbait in the calm conditions we were in. It didn't take long until Mark was rewarded with a nice bass. I switched to a white single spin Colorado blade spinnerbait and caught a rock bass, then a pike, then a 11 inch bass. As we worked our way west on the flat Mark caught another nice bass on the buzzbait. That was enought to convince me to go to topwater and I put on a Purple Berkley Frenzy Popper. I think Mark got another nice bass and shortly after that I caught my first keeper of the day which was a solid 16" fish. Conditions just seemed to be perfect for topwater and anticipation of a strike was high. Mark caught a couple of more fish on the buzzbait to my nothing, so I was thinking maybe they wanted a more active bait, so I switched to a white spook. The fish did seem to like the spook better than the popper. I had a pike launch itself after the spook and miss it. Then a couple of casts later something hit at the spook and missed, then hit at it again and missed, I paused the bait then started it up again and this time the fish got it and I was rewarded with another 16" bass. Mark caught a couple of more bass on the buzzbait and reached his 6 fish limit. I caught a couple of short bass which was a bit frustrating cause a spook is supposed to be a big fish bait. After much walking the dog I did get a 14" keeper.

The wind came up and the surface bite died. Mark started throwing a white spinnerbait and started getting a few bass and pike. I tried the swim jig and the white spinnerbait. I backlashed and broke my line at the spool sending the white spinnerbait into the distance. Easy come, easy Go! I tied on another white single Colorado blade spinnerbait and got back after it. That was not getting any hits so I decided to tie on a black spinnerbait with a much bigger Colorado blade. I caught a pike very quickly on that.

We headed back across the flat to our starting spot and I nailed a couple more pike on the black spinnerbait and also had a couple of hits that did not hook up. We were working the middle of the flat and I was throwing out to deeper water when I got a solid hook up which turned out to be a nice 16" bass. A little while later doing the same thing I nailed yet another nice 16" largemouth. Things seemed to shut down after that and I was not even getting bit by pike anymore. Still the good fish I got on the black spinnerbait gave me a lot of confidence to keep throwing it and persistance paid off as I landed my limit fish sometime around 11am. My limit fish was just a 13 incher. It was really nice to have a limit since my partner Mark's expectations coming in were quite low.

Things stayed kind of slow on another pass across the flat. Mark switched up to a jig and pig and got a bass on that. I think I landed a pike or two and then switched up to a jig and pig to give my back a break from the relentless casting and retrieving. I had a solid pick up on the jig and landed a 14" inch fish so I culled up a little. Not long after catching that fish Mark suggested that we hit some docks in search of a kicker.

We started off on some of the docks on the flat that we had been fishing all morning. As we were moving along we came to a short wooden single dock that looked like nothing. Mark casted at the dock and got a strike but didn't hook up. I made a cast at the front of the dock and saw the bass that Mark missed swim away from the dock then start to circle back in the direction of my Super Fluke. While I couldn't tell completely it looked like the fish picked up the Fluke and so I set the hook and sure enough the rod doubled up. I didn't realize it when I saw it swimming, but as soon as I hooked up it became apparent this was a bigger fish. It put up a good fight and didn't go into the net easy, but I did land the 4lb 2oz beauty which turned out to be the tournament big bass by an ounce. Sometimes you just get a bit lucky and things go your way. This success motivated us to run the lake and hit docks for a while.

We got a few keepers and several shorts on docks, but nothing that would help. Eventually we moved to the South side of the lake and started hitting docks there. The South side docks were pretty dead and we eventually headed out over a flat. I got a small pike, then tied into a good fish that I was hoping was a bass. It was a bass but not as big a fish as the fight it put up. The fish was 15.25 and I ended up throwing it back, which was a mistake because I still had a 14" fish in the well but I could not find it thanks to the fact that I got mixed up when a couple of my clip on cull tags came off of the fish. Mark has a walleye boat with one main non-divided livewell, so with 11 fish in there it was easy for me to not come up with the 14 incher after a bit of a search. I figured I had just measured wrong but at the end of the day sorting it was pretty obvious I had a 14" fish.

We headed back to the flat we started on and I caught yet another 15" bass that would have helped, but once again I did not find that 14" fish and so I let a bigger fish go. We worked the flat and caught a few more pike. With about 30 minutes left we headed back to the launch area and tried a weedy point but didn't get anything. We headed in about 10 minutes early.

Mark thought I had his bag beat by 2-4lbs, but it turned out that he beat me by 10ozs, so I ended up in 3rd place overall at 14lbs 6ozs. First place was 17lbs 6ozs. I got plaques for Lunker and 3rd Place. It's hard to say whether or not my culling screw up cost me 2nd place or not, Mark figured it probably did. Oh well, one place is no big deal, I am just glad it was me that got the big one.

The other rookie in the club this year did not fish for his second tournament in a row, so I locked up rookie of the year honors by just showing up.

Our last tournament is Oct 4th on Upper and Lower Mission lakes in Crow Wing County. Mark says they are great bass fisheries.

Bass Snatchers Club North Long 8/23/08

Just a bit of frustration is starting to sink in.

It was still pretty dark when I arrived at the public access a little before 6AM. It was cloudy, cool but not cold, and quite windy, which had everyone a bit put off a bit. I brought a raincoat but didn't have a bib. I was surprised that my partner Chuck's boat is one of the smaller tiller model Rangers. I had just assumed being the hardcore bass fisherman that this guy is that he would have a pretty good sized rocket ship. When we got out on the water we discovered his aerator pump wasn't working, so he kept his fish in the bait well and I had to continuously scoop fresh water into the main livewell where my fish were throughout the day. It worked out as all my fish were alive at weigh in. The boat has a non-divided main live well and a bait well, so it is actually more of a walleye rig. The tournament blast off was at 7AM and we headed for the big water in the middle basin of North Long. North Long runs pretty much East to West and has 3 pretty round bays and is not small with almost 6000 acres of water. The way the wind was blowing I thought it would be much rougher once we got into the middle basin but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

We started on a mid-lake hump where my partner had found a school of big fish. Neither of us got a bite. We then moved to another hump close by that already had a boat on it. We saw them land one fish as they were drifting their way slowly with the anchor down. We didn't get anything but weeds.

Next we headed to a fairly protected shoreline to try some reeds. Almost right away I lost a small fish on a swim jig and that was all we got there. Next we moved out to the weedline and on our second stop started getting some action with the noise of Brainerd International Raceway in the background. I got my first fish on a pumpkinseed Monsoor swim jig with Zoom Speed Craw Trailer. I think I next caught one or two shorts. My partner was landing keepers on a texas rigged craw tube and I made the switch to a black/blue JigNpig. I caught two nice keepers on my first two casts. After that the fish seemed to shut off. The wind seemed to increase while we were on that weedline. I would say it was gusting over 30.

We then hit a couple of weedline spots on the North End of the middle basin. My partner filled out his limit and I got two more keepers plus about 4 shorts on the swim jig.

Next we headed out to the humps we started on. The clouds had started to break up and the wind came down to about 15mph instead of 20-30mph. My partner landed his best fish of the day on the first hump, but that was it. Eventually I filled my limit and got my first cull. We then ran back to the weedline where we had caught the bulk of our fish, but didn't get anything except one short for me. I don't remember where we went next, but we got nothing there. We then headed to a cabbage weed bed on the southern part of the middle basin. I caught a couple of shorts on the swim jig and Chuck got his craw tube bit off by a pike.

With about an hour left with the sun completely out and the wind dying down we tried a nice looking steep break on the North end of the middle basin without any luck. Next we headed into Merrifield Bay (the east basin) and went dock fishing. My partner was skipping a jigNpig under the docks with a baitcaster and he was sure good at it with extremely accurate casts. Meanwhile I was struggling to get accustomed to my new St. Croix Avid Spinning rod rigged with bass tube jig. Chuck managed to cull up slightly a couple of times and caught a couple of fish that would have helped me. On one of the docks I made a bad cast got hung up and broke off. This allowed me to switch up to a bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke which I am much more comfortable throwing around docks because the hook is not exposed. Chuck let me get first crack at a likely looking spot and I caught yet another short. We kept moving around hitting docks. We came to a spot where there was a boat lift about 35 feet out from the end of a dock. Chuck had a fish pick up his bait and spit it, while I was casting into the shadow made by the lift. After a couple of jerks of the Fluke I had on a 16.5" which was my big fish of the day. It was also the last fish of the day for us.

My partner weighed a respectable 13-7 which was only good enough for 7th. My partner had won the two previous club tournaments at North Long in 2006 and 2004 with weights in the 14's. The winning weight on this day was 15-11 with 2 other bags in the 15's and 2 bags in the high 14's.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear 11lbs 01oz with a big fish of 2lbs 9ozs. I thought I had somewhere just under 10lbs. From past history I figured that 11lbs would get me a solid finish in the middle of the pack, instead on this day it was only good enough for 17th out of 24.

As I said before this is starting to get a little bit frustrating. I am catching fish from the back of the boat, but the size of fish I am catching just isn't cutting it compared to everyone else. This tournament I caught all but 1 fish on a bass jig which is known to be a bigger fish bait, but I caught my big fish of the day on a Super Fluke.

I now have a 15th, 16th, 17th, and 23rd place finishes. This tournament moved me ahead of the other club rookie, who didn't fish North Long. I am currently in 17th place and well back of 16th place and that is out of 22 people that have fished a minimum of 3 out of the 4 tournaments. (Place is figured out with the lowest score thrown out so only 3 tournaments at this point count for a persons points.)

Our 5th tournament is not until September 20th at Serpent Lake and the last tournament of the year is October 4 at Mission.

Bass Snatchers Pokegama

I had a close call with a deer on the North end of Mille Lacs lake on my way North to Grand Rapids, no harm no foul. I got to Grand Rapids a little quicker than I thought I would but that was OK as my partner Bill and some of the other guys were already out in the motel parking lot. I got my gear into Bill's boat and then spent probably an hour shooting the breeze before we left.

The access we went out of is on the NW end of the lake and we headquartered out of a public beach just North of there that is right by where the Mississippi flows into Pokegama lake. Our plan was to head up the river and try to catch some big fish, but if that wasn't working to go back down into the lake and fish cabbage.

We were boat #2 out of the gate and boat #2 heading into the river. By the time we got to the spot where you can run the river at full speed we were the #1 boat. We ran all the way past the Hwy 6 bridge to a spot Bill calls "Dogfish Corner". We started out pitching jigs and I got messed with by a small pike. I also threw some slop frogs and Zoom Horny Toads having a small pike strike on the toad. We got nothing on this spot and so we headed up river some more to another great looking area with rice, rushes, and wood, but we could not get anything. We then made our way back down the river. The story from all the river boats was slow fishing. A few guys had some small fish. We stopped at the Hwy 6 bridge and I caught a small pike there.

Bill got his first bass in some reeds on Jay Gould Lake (at least I think that is where we were). We then headed into the lake to fish weedline/weedbeds. Bill quickly landed two keepers before I got number 1 on a watermelon tube. I don't remember if I got another keeper bass on the tube before I had a pike break it off. I put on what turned out to be a grey tube, I thought these tubes were watermelon too, but it was just the green packaging. I may have got 1 more bass off of this first spot in the lake.

Next we hit some reeds and I missed a couple of hits on topwater. We then went to another cabbage weedline spot and Bill filled out his limit while I got to fish #4. It started to sprinkle while we were on this spot and it continued to lightly rain until the last half hour of the tournament. We headed in to try some slop and I got #5 on a Snagproof Bobby's Perfect frog. Next we worked some rushes and reeds and I got my limit fish on the Bobby's perfect frog.

Now with two limits in the well it was decision time and we decided that our best shot for kickers was in the river and so we made our way back there. We started working the Power Plant area and I missed a bite that I probably should have caught on the Horny Toad as that I saw the fish wake towards the bait before it hit. It could have been a dogfish though. We turned a corner and started working into the wind. After quite a while of fishing Bill landed a nice dark mid 3lb fish. A little while later he got some pike. Bill was pitching a jig into the weed edge and I was casting out the front of the boat parallel with the weed edge. A fish showed itself and so I was careful to cover the spot and I was rewarded with a 17.5" largemouth. We worked our way down the stretch several hundred more yards, then we turned around to hit it again. Now with the wind at my back I was really able to cover the water. I was distracted by a boat running the river and took my eye off the Horny Toad and I missed a hit. A little while later I got a solid strike and landed another 17.5" in largemouth. That was the last fish of the day. I think if we would have gotten another hour in the river I could have caught some more nice fish.

I ended up with my best weight of the year so far with 6 fish for 12lbs 8ozs. I tied with a guy for weight and big fish and lost the coin flip tie break, so I ended up in 15th out of 25 guys. My partner Bill was 13th with 13lbs 5 ozs. Winning weight was 20lbs 3ozs and he spent the whole day in the river and didn't catch his limit fish until the last 1/2 hour. The guy in 2nd also fished the river all day. Big fish was 5lbs 10oz and there was one other 5lber caught.

Overall I had a really enjoyable time. It was nice that the cool overcast and rain kept the horse and deer flies away, because I hear they can get quite bad in the river.

Bass Snatchers Big Birch (Grey Eagle)

This tournament had a late start at 8am, but I still was up before 5am and out the door before a quarter after. I drove to Little Falls to meet up with Barry and his Son-in-law Joe to carpool to Big Birch. Conditions were sunny and warm enough with a NW breeze blowin about 7mph. It stayed sunny to partly cloudy throughout the day but the wind kicked up to 15-20mph at times.

We started in the West lake around an Island where Barry had found a bunch of bedding smallmouth a few days ago. I started with topwater and right away had a fish show behind the bait but it never committed. This happened twice in the first 5 minutes. The smallies had vacated the beds in this area and so we moved a little farther North on the Island. Barry caught a nice fish on a crank, but that was all we got. Next we headed to the Upper East lake to Barry's "Honey Hole." It was a weed patch where Barry found a school of good fish pre-fishing. Barry managed to get two smaller fish on a tube.

Next we worked a thickly weeded bullrush island. I went to use my telescoping 7'3" St. Criox Avid Flippen stick, but I had a hard time getting the rod to pull out. As I eventually got it to move a couple of maggots came up with the blank. Apparently a fly got in there and laid some eggs making the two parts of the rod blank stick together. I did get the rod extended but didn't catch a thing.

We moved across the lake to a point with some reeds on the inside turn and I got a 13.25" and a pumpkin Monsoor swim jig with pumpkin Zoom Speed Craw trailer. From there we moved back to the West lake Island where we started and where Barry got his first fish. I got a 13.25" largemouth on a white X-Rap and jumped off a fish that was a bit bigger and also had a follow from a good fish (smallmouth???). We switched to the Island Barry's Son-in-law Joe was fishing and fished around it. We kind of wandered into the other boats hot area where Barry and I both caught a fish. The fish for me was yet another 13.25" on the white X-Rap.

Next we fished the Eastern edge of the Island we started on. This spot featured bullrushes and reeds along a steep drop. Barry had seen lots of fish cruising this run while prefishing. I fished the area with the swim jig and started off by catching a dink and having a few small fish pull on the speed craw. As we were going along Barry got a couple of dinks and a couple of Rock Bass. I saw a largemouth that was at least two pounds pull the speed craw right off the jig, bummer.

Next I think we went back into the East lake and didn't get a thing but one for me that was 11.75." We went back to the West lake and fished around Joe's Island maybe catching a rock bass or two. We then headed to a weedline spot where Barry jerked up 2 keepers and then I got a 12.25" on a white Strike King Zero (Senko) fished on a mushroom head jig. We drifted the spot again with Barry getting another keeper and me landing one that was 14.25" on the Zero. We did another couple of passes but only got Rock Bass. From there we went to fish another similar weedline but another boat was on it. The days big bass, 4lbs 1oz, was caught by that boat on that spot.

Once again we headed to Joe's Island and tried to fish deep. I caught a rock bass. From there we went to the East side of our starting Island where the bullrushes and reeds were. We just about had fished the whole stretch when I got my limit fish, a 14.50" largie on the swim jig by reeds and rocks.

It was getting to be late in the day and we headed back to the East lake to try the "Honey Hole" one last time. We bounced around a couple of new spots then hit the reed patch by the Rock Tavern where we were going to have the weigh in. The reeds were a perfect match for a Horny Toad, so I started throwing it. I had a little fish hit it and managed to resist the urge to set the hook. I was working the toad through the reeds when I had a solid blow up from another 13.25" that culled out my 12 incher. I got one more good blow up on the Toad but failed to hook up and that was the end of our day. I was pleased to have gotten a limit, even if it was small.

I ended up with 7lbs 8ozs with a big fish of 1lb 9ozs which stuck me in 23rd out of 24 anglers. The only guy I beat was my Farm Island partner Herman who only brought in 3 fish. My partner Barry came in 20th, which shows me that our area's were holding below average fish this day.

The winner had a 15lb 6oz bag of smallmouth that he pretty much sight fished near shallow rocks. Our boat didn't land a single smallie all day, but Barry might have jumped one off near the end of the day. A couple of people reported catching dozens and dozens of 12-14 inch largemouth so the fish were schooled up in some places. Unfortunately the schools that were on Barry's spots moved. Overall I had a fun day and the heat didn't get to be to bad.

After the tournament we went to the Rock Tavern where I got to know Joe who grew up in Little Falls and sounds like he is a die hard Mississippi smallmouth angler. He showed me a couple of his smallmouth tricks.

Bass Snatchers Farm Island Lake

Saturday June 7, 2008

I met my partner Herman a little before 5:30PM in Pine Center. Pine Center is only about 10 miles straight North of the house and it was cool that Hermen met me somewhere familiar. We loaded my gear into his 20.5" Ranger Dual Console and were off. I soon learned that Herman was about the nicest guy you would ever want to meet. This is his 27th year as a Bass Snatcher so he told me lots of things about the club. He used to be heavily involved in the Minnesota Federation before it was the Federation Nation and had lot of stories to tell from his involvement. He fishes the club for fun and fun is what we had.

I think we were boat #4 on take off and we were the first one's to head South on Farm Island Lake. We ended up starting on the SE shore of Farm Island. It was a sandy area with some weedgrowth towards shore. It was calm so I went with the Zoom Super Fluke. As we were working the shore line Herman had a good fish take his spinnerbait but throw it half way to the boat. Just after that I had a swirl on the Fluke but my hookset came up empty. This was my first time throwing the Fluke this year and I didn't use it much last summer when I hardly fished at all, so I was a bit rusty. Not long after this the Fluke disappeared and I set into a 11inch fish. We have a 12inch minimum. I caught another 11" off the end of a dock. We worked the whole East shore of Farm Island but didn't have a keeper to show for it.

From Farm Island we headed West a little ways and went to a protected shoreline. I think Herman said there were normally reeds in this area but just like Sullivan Lake, the reeds in Farm Island are almost non-existant this year. The area was sandy bottom with some weeds. Something came to the surface and left some bubbles. Herman had me cast over there with the Fluke. I worked it slow and sure enough my big bass of the day picked it up and I got her in. A little ways down the line Herman got on the board. We eventually worked ourselves out of the weeds so we headed farther West. We were going to fish some emergent weeds at the mouth of a slop bay East to West. As we pulled in another Bass Snatcher boat pulled up to the West thus cutting us off from fishing the shoreline unless we wanted to fish used water. We worked the emergent vegetation which looked perfect for the Horny Toad. Herman got his 2nd keeper here but that was all we got on two passes.

We went somewhere to the North and I lost a Fluke to a Pike.

From there we went back to our starting spot and I started catching some dink bass on the Fluke. There was a 13"-14"keeper up on a bed but I could not get it to go. We then pulled out a little deeper and I got my 2nd keeper on a Blue/Black Monsoor Swim Jig with Junebug Zoom Ultravibe Speed Craw trailer. I got the fish jigging the lure, not swimming it. We fished a cabbage bed without any luck. Before we were off to the North end of the lake Herman made me a sandwich.

We headed to the access bay and fished some emergent vegetation where I got my 3rd keeper. We moved off the emergent veg. and onto a flat with docks. I think I got 2 more keepers on this stretch and Herman got his final keeper of the day.

I am not sure where on the lake we went next but it was a good looking area where there were the remnemnts of a pencil reed bed. We had zero luck in the old reeds, but we really were fishing it wrong with horizontal presentations instead of pitching a jigNpig. We worked out way onto a weed flat and I broke a fish off at the knot, so it may not have been a pike.

Next we headed to the best looking water of the day. It is a bay where emergent vegetation lines water with some depth leading to a weed flat with rice and pads. We worked the sweet looking emergent vegetation but only drew fish in one spot. I got my limit fish on the Fluke and Herman caught two shorts. Eventually we got to the flat which had wind blowing in on it and I switched to the Blue swim jig. I got 2 fish to cull and missed one real good fish. We worked our way off the flat to where there was an old ugly orange runabout that had been half sunk in the previous days heavy winds. The motor was fully submerged and the left front of the boat was up on the dock damaging both. The scene was quite a mess.

Time was running short so we ran into the access bay and worked more of the emergent vegetation off which I had got 1 keeper earlier. We got a few dinks on the stretch and I think Herman might of missed a keeper on a jigNpig. At the end of the emergent vegetation there was a pretty good size chunk of wood in the water and I told Herman to try that. He didn't get anything but I noticed a smaller piece of wood quite a bit further in towards shore so I casted my swim jig at it. Sure enough I got my last bass of the day, a fat 12.25" that didn't help me. We worked out way back a little on the emergent vegetation than called it a day.

I caught my 6 Fish limit for 9lbs 8ozs which put me in 16th out of 28 anglers. My big fish was 2lbs 7oz. The winner was our club President with 14lbs15oz and big bass was only 3lbs 8ozs. Herman finished 27th. 20 limits were caught.

Fishers of Men Club Beebe Lake 6/2/07

I left for the tournament before 5AM which gave me plenty of time to make it to "Land of Promise" and Beebe Lake by 8am. With the extra time I decided to hit the Crow River outside of St. Michael to see if I could get a little topwater smallie action. I must have hit the rip rap around 6:45 and started working my way down. I thought I got a hit from something small and kept right on going. A little while later I did get a hit from an 8" smallie that managed to get the whole back treble in it's mouth. Without pliars it was tough to get out, but I did, hopefully with no damage done to the fish. A little ways farther down I got a harder hit and the fight was on. The fish got caught up in some debree, but it did not come off. As it turns out the fish was hooked on the front of the dorsal fin. Once again this was a pain to get out without pliars, but I managed to do it and release the fish. Not a bad start to the day, two smallies on the Clown Frenzy Popper.

My 5th fish of the day. Was 15" or 16"
My limit fish and last bass of the day. I think it went 16.5" and tied for my big fish.

Partner Wayne Jacobson staves off the skunk with a 15.5"=2.3lb Keeper.

Thompson scores a Beebe Lake Toad. 20"=5lbs

Mike with a chuncky 18.5=3.9lbs.

The Story: The scheduled start of the tournament was 9am but we got started a little late. The weather went from fairly sunny to increasing clouds. The wind was probably 5-10mph out of the south. I think we had 7 boats with 13 participants. The lake was bursting at the seems with Curly Leaf Pond Weed. I only found millfoil in "telephone pole bay."

The day started quite slow for Wayne and I. First we hit the whole Eastern and Southern Shore of the big island hitting both the inside and outside weed edge. Not a sign of a fish. So then we tried around the reed Islands, I did get something, probably a small pike, to slash at my Zoom Horny Toad. From the reed Islands we progressed to the SW side of the lake just below the Southern notch/bay. While working that weedline we ran into Mike Cummins who told us there were lots of bass that were not biting on the inside weedline in the NE bay by "Land of Promise." After working down the SW weedline quite a ways we elected to pull up and hit the NE bay.

Finally there were signs of life. The inside weedline was full of sunfish and the occasional bass. I switched to a Senko knock off and tried to hit the holes in the weeds and around the docks. I was seeing an occasional bass but wasn't getting anything. I started throwing the white Zoom Horny Toad and got a blow up and caught a 15" largemouth from a hole in the weeds. We kept working our way around the inside weedline and I got another fish on the white Horny Toad. I had a couple of fish either boil on the toad or follow it to the boat. When we got to the Land of Promise East dock, Wayne decided to take a trip to Mcdonald's to get us some lunch. I threw some casts with the Horny Toad off the dock but didn't get anything. I then switched to a purple Frenzy Popper and was rewarded when a 16.5" bass annihilated it. This bass was barely hooked but I managed to fight it through the weeds and land it. After a while Wayne came back with some snack wraps for me to snack on.

We elected to go back and re-trace our steps in the NE bay. I set Wayne up with a Horny Toad. In the general area where I got my 1st fish I had a good take, but I missed it. This tried to hit through the matted weeds and I didn't give it long enough to take the bait down. We kept working our way W and I started mixing in the Frenzy Popper as the weedline would allow. After throwing it for quite a bit and almost giving up on it, I got a hit and landed my 4th bass of the day. We ended up giving the NE bay one more run through but didn't garner any fish.

We then headed to the North Point of the Island and worked our way down the Western side this time. The west side was full of activity and I saw a really nice bass and a few small one's but we just couldn't get anything to go. With about an hour to go we hit the "telephone pole bay." As we worked our way toward the telephone pole in the water I got a hit and missed it. Shortly after that Wayne had a solid strike on the Horny Toad but missed it. A little bit later I got a good blow up on the Horny Toad and landed my 5th fish (pictured). Just a little ways farther down as we were exiting the telephone pole area, I got another blow up and landed my second 16.5" fish (pictured). That fish was my limit fish. We worked our way out of the telephone pole bay onto the sunkin penninsula where I had a good blow up but missed it. Shortly after that Wayne got a 15.5" bass off of the outside weedline of the sunken penninsula. That was to be our last fish of the day and it wasn't long till we had to be in anyways.

When we got to the Western dock at land of Promise everyone was waiting. It had been a rough day on most boats with most of the anglers bringing in Skunks as far as I can tell. Before the weights were calculated I found out Cyberfish jacked a 20incher (pictured) and I knew it was over. Mike ended up winning with 6fish for 19.6lbs. I took 2nd with 14.2lbs. Mike Cummins had 6 fish for 10.4 lbs and 3rd. Wayne's lone fish was good enough for 4th place.

As it turns out Mike got 2 fish in the last half hour including the 20inch Toad. I thought that Mike would have caught the snot out of them, but he only got 6 keepers, but they were all nice fish.

Mike and I headed to Angeno's in Maple Grove after the Tournament for some Pizza. Yum Yum. It stormed something fierce while we were at Angeno's.

A big thanks to my partner Wayne Jacobson for turning us on to Land of Promise and for sharing his day in the boat with me.

Fishers of Men Mille Lacs 02

This report is an old Basspastor/Annonymous post from FishingMinnesota.com. The tournament was a huge dissappointment, except for the fact that I got back a big tackle bag that blew out of the boat. We had a great area on Mille Lacs all to ourselves yet couldn't convert it into a high finish.

On July 6th
Fishers of Men Mn Division 15boats?
Mille Lacs Partly Cly to clear SE 5-15MPH
I had prefished for this tournament on three separate occasions. All 3 days I located largemouth. Smallies With the 21" minimum and limit of 1 made a limit of largemouth the better gamble.

Size in prefishing was generally 13-16" with a couple in the 3 and 4lb range. I found them in boat channels and heavy cover area's especially if there were multiple types in an area. (reeds, bulrushes, cabbage, pads, etc.) I was fishing the S to SE side of the lake. 1-7ft of water

I was very confident going into tournament day that we would catch fish. The only question is whether we would get some bigger ones. We didn't land any. We dropped several fish. Actually it was mostly my partner as that his gear was probably not quite heavy enough.

We had a good weedless frog/ buzzbait bite in the morning. Fish were very much related to the outside edges early. Unfortunatly we did not work from outside to inside and only figured out that's where they were about the time the sun started getting higher pushing them back in.

We took a short run to some new water across the way that I had not scouted It looked good but we came up with nothing. We went back to the area that obviously was holding quite a few fish. No hits on frogs so we switched to jignpigs. Managed to cull a couple more and catch a few more that went right back. In the last hour we went despiration Smallie fishing. No luck. We proobably caught 14 to 20 fish that measured, no dinks.

I know we had 10lb's something but am still not sure of our exact place.

Winners;
Scott Bonnema & Paul Newman 17.6lbs
Apparently mostly on jigs
Big Fish was 4.94
for more on this tournament see mnfom.com

Ps You don't have to go into as much detail. But include Lake, date, #0f boats something about conditions and what you did and placed.